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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25983469">Not Harder</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Killamari/pseuds/Killamari'>Killamari</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Ball</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, In which someone decides to think before they throw a punch, Patented Shonen Bullshit, Self-Insert, Someone that enjoys original Dragon Ball attempts to write a fic covering Dragon Ball Z, Swearing, What Was I Thinking?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:42:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,131</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25983469</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Killamari/pseuds/Killamari</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ending up in a world where magic balls that grant wishes, aliens that think they're gods and demons, misnamed cyborgs, and forces of destruction that are dealt with in about a week all exist isn't a great situation. Even worse when you're not the strongest guy on the block. How's someone supposed to deal with all that? More at 11.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kami &amp; Original Character(s), Kami &amp; Son Goku (Dragon Ball), Mr. Popo &amp; Original Character(s), Son Goku (Dragon Ball) &amp; Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Not Harder</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey there, readers. This is my first (working) story! Funny enough, it's for one of the first anime I ever saw, too. I'm kinda nervous about how this is gonna turn out, but here's to hoping!</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>At this point in my life, I'd like to think that I'm intimately familiar with the feeling of pins and needles.</p><p>It's probably because I hate it so much. After all, it was the last thing I felt before I died.</p><p>I still remember it, y'know? I remember trying to head to sleep, failing as per usual. I really can't figure out how I couldn't manage it.</p><p>It was probably the mattress, the old bastard.</p><p>It was December, I'd felt like going down memory lane that night. My usual tradition for the end of the year was to blow through Dragon Ball before the new year came around, but I wasn't feeling like starting then, so I'd figured I could just run through the highlights.</p><p>It wasn't a big deal for anyone other than me anyway, what was the harm?</p><p>It was a sort of rush, honestly. This series had been a part of me for almost my entire life, weird as it is to admit that. It wasn't my favorite manga, it hadn't been for a long time, but it had a weird magic to it that I couldn't shake away from. And hey, that magic worked for me! By the time I'd finished, I had <em>finally</em> felt tired.

</p><p>I wasn't going to waste the chance to get whatever amount of sleep I could, though. I discarded my phone somewhere (I might've heard a crack, but that was a problem for Future Me) and <em>right</em> before I'd managed to sleep, things went weird.</p><p>I got a rush of what I could only refer to as the physical equivalent of white noise. On reflection, it wasn't a nice feeling, it wasn't painful. But If I <em>had</em> to identify it...</p><p>I'd call it <b>terrifying</b>, plain and simple.</p><p>I couldn't move, and trust me, I fucking tried. I tried to scream, cry, <em>anything</em>, but no dice. All I could do was wait for it to be over, and if it didn't end, I might have gone insane that night. But, as the feeling reached my head, I that was it. I blacked out.</p><p>When I woke up, I got a top-down view of the clouds, with my head...sticking...out of...a hole? </p><p>Oh. <b>Joy</b>.</p><p>
I pulled my head out of that hole, taking a bit to process what I'd seen. Was...was I dreaming? I didn't usually dream, or I at least didn't remember it. And after I had gone through (it may have been the most terrifying thing I've ever felt in my life), I didn't think I'd be dreaming about clouds. Honestly, I'd be having a nightmare.</p><p>Ha, the first time I'd ever manage to have a dream and it's a nightmare. The thought'd be too depressing for me to accept, so fuck that noise.
</p><p>
It had been enough time, so I stuck my head back out to see how crazy things were out there.
</p><p>
I've been on a ton of planes before. I used to hate it when I was little, but one of those times flying, I took a look out of the window. We'd usually flown at night, or so absurdly early in the morning that I wondered how people even functioned.</p><p>This time was different. The sun was shining and at some point, the fear I'd felt up so high was gone. For as far as I could see, it was just clouds. It was weirdly calming to see.

</p><p>I got the same feeling looking down towards the clouds through this hole, staying for a little longer in order to try and use the sight to try and wash away everything else, just to keep it all pushed in for as long as I could.
</p><p>
 I let my eyes wander all over, taking in the sight of the cloud cover before catching the sight of something <em>weird</em>:
</p><p>
A thin, red pillar. It pushed right through the clouds, and even though I couldn't see anything beyond the clouds, I knew it was a long way down. Like, absurdly so. I continued to stare, wondering if the thing I was sitting in was just supported by the stick-looking thing. I gingerly pulled my head out of the hole again, winking away the tears that had come from me not blinking. At that time, things clicked for me.
</p><p>
"...Oh. Shit."
</p><p>
So yeah, turns out I was a victim of something...unfortunate. At some point, stories about people getting thrown into new and unfamiliar worlds got pretty popular. In my case, for better or worse, that wasn't the problem. I <em>knew</em> about where I was, which made me the victim of its distant cousin.
</p><p>
Yay me.
</p><p>
That meant twists, turns, excitement, heartbreak. All the elements of a great story were most likely coming my way. Honestly, there might actually be a <em>lot</em> of breaking going on here. It was most likely going to be the sort directed at me, too. I had no illusions that any of it would be pleasant for me.</p><p>I was probably going to die.</p><p>
But hey, that's what Dragon Balls are for, right?
</p><p>
...I really hope I don't have to die again, it fucking sucks. I don't care if there's an easy fix to it.
</p><p>
At some point when I was thinking, I figured I couldn't stay in here forever. The Lookout was sorta big, sure, but I couldn't really do much in the basement. I had to get out of the room at some point.</p><p>
There was a door off to the side, and it was the only other thing here, so my path was kinda obvious, I guess. So, I pulled myself to my feet...
</p><p>And noticed immediately that I was a lot lower to the ground standing up.</p><p>"...<em>Huh?</em>"</p><p>I finally took a second to actually <em>look</em> at myself, I'd apparently been ignoring some pretty important details about my situation.</p><p>First off, that I was very much not the six feet and three-ish inches that I'd been accustomed to before. In fact, as my brain helpfully supplied from <em>somewhere</em>, I was four feet nine. Honestly, in spite of what else I just knew I was gonna find, this one brought me the closest to tears. I didn't really lord it over people's heads, but I was <em>glad</em> to be as tall as I was.</p><p>It was my only redeeming feature, dammit! I can't go on any rides that aren't teacups, I'm <em>definitely</em> not gonna be taken seriously by people, and worst of all, I'd have to use a stepladder for cupboards!</p><p>That was <em>demeaning</em>!</p><p>And who's to say my clumsy ass wouldn't just fall over and crack something important on the way down?! I couldn't die like that, I'd never be able to live it down!</p><p>...I stopped my pacing around (at some point later, I'd wonder when I'd even <em>started</em>) and just took a second. Was this how Red felt?</p><p>Huh. I kinda get it now.</p><p>Wait! That was beside the point, dammit! I gotta get back on track!</p><p>After a bit more pacing and muttering, my brain again caught up to me. I sounded...off. Plus, my hands were weird, even for being as short as I was. They were smaller too, but I couldn't place why that was throwing me off as much as it had. So, I just figured I could tackle that problem later. For now, Problem Two. I cleared my throat, squared my shoulders, and...</p><p>"<b>The FitnessGram Pacer Te</b>— shit."</p><p>My voice was <em>way</em> higher pitched than I was used to. That, compounded with the rest of what I'd seen, led me to believe that I wasn't just smaller, I was younger, too. I stared at my hands a little longer, feeling...something well up in me. I didn't know what, but at that point, I didn't want to find out.</p><p>"Right," I muttered, slapping my cheeks to try and keep myself grounded, "I'll deal with it later."</p><p>For now, I should focus on getting topside. I actually didn't remember how large the place was, but I'd rather not waste all my energy thinking about my issues. I strode over to the door, got a hand around the handle to <em>push</em>...</p><p>And it didn't budge.</p><p>"..."</p><p>I could feel my soul leave my body when pulling it opened it with no issue.</p><p>I'm pretty happy I was so far down now, no one would've been able to see me try to dent the door with my head.</p><p>"Stupid! Idiot! Moron!"</p><p>I was off to a great start already, I could just tell.

</p>
<hr/><p>
I should've just jumped out the hole when I'd had the chance.
</p><p>
At least then, I wouldn't have been climbing the Staircase From Hell<sup>TM</sup>
</p><p>
"Haaah….haaah...hate this."
</p><p>
See, The Lookout had a massive amount of stairs on the inside, and at certain points, the flight of stairs would end, there'd be a platform, maybe a door, and it'd start all over again. I couldn't actually see the top when I'd started, and I honestly still couldn't. Even after I'd lost the ability to see the bottom.</p><p>"Hate this so fuggin much…"</p><p>The inside didn't have much light, so I'd left the door I'd come from pretty open so that natural light could bleed in, but that wasn't really helping now.</p><p>Not that I needed to really see my surroundings all that much. I'd been clinging to the railing. The last thing I needed was to slip and die on the way down, I'd already talked about how that was a pretty embarrassing way to go.</p><p>Plus, with how many stairs I'd cleared, it wasn't gonna be painless, and I sure as hell wasn't gonna be quick. So, I clung to the rail hard enough that I was sure I'd bend it or something.
</p><p>Anyways, the absurd climb had really taken me out of it. <em>Everything</em> sorta burned. Just breathing without wanting to puke up something was a feat in and of itself, every step up on the stone was another reason to hate the fact that I'd apparently been barefoot the entire way up.</p><p>Honestly, I think I deserved a medal for even <em>trying</em> this in a kid's body. My legs were way shorter, so I couldn't clear as many steps.</p><p>
...I had the sinking suspicion that my original body wouldn't have fared much better regardless.
</p><p>
Yikes, I'm gonna depress myself if I kept thinking like that. No more dwelling on it and keep going up to new-life territory! Body image thoughts can wait til I'm outta here!</p><p>There can't be that much left, right?</p>
<hr/><p>The strain of moving <em>might</em> have made the already excruciatingly long walk up the stairs even longer but, by the time I got past what I had <em>hoped</em> was the halfway point, my everything didn't really hurt anymore!</p><p>I think it was because I went numb from the pain of overexerting myself, but was I gonna look that proverbial gift horse in the mouth and sleep off the pain? Absolutely not!</p><p>
I could still move. I could keep going until I got to the top, definitely! Sure, there wasn't really a rush on time. At least I <em>hoped</em> there wasn't. (if I went upstairs and saw Super Buu, I’m sure that I'd have just enough energy to turn around and go for a swan dive).

</p><p>Sure, running myself ragged was probably doing more harm than good, but I wasn't seeing anything bad happening yet.</p><p>And you know what that meant?</p><p>It meant that <em>nothing</em> bad was gonna happen to m—<b><em>WHAT IS THAT!?</em></b></p><p>Out of nowhere, I got this sort of deep, primal feeling spike up in me. It sorta felt like that butterflies in the stomach feeling when you're <em>Just</em> about to go for that first drop, except more...present? Tangible? And pressing against my spine? Whatever it was, My everything screamed at me to turn around towards wherever the push was coming from, somehow moving faster than I ever <em>should</em> have been able to. All to see…</p><p>Nothing new. Just the stairs. The feeling had bled away almost immediately, too, leaving me feeling...empty?</p><p>...Ooookay, sleep's gonna help fix...whatever that was. Because seeing things isn't exactly conducive to the "I live long enough to see the sunlight again" experience. Time to crawl up to the next little platform, sleep for however long because I can't tell the time down here, then back to climbing!</p><p>Yaaaay...</p>
<hr/><p>So, waking up in a head-sized pool of my own tears and what I <em>hoped</em> wasn't blood is an experience I don't think I ever wanted to repeat. Freaked me out enough that it would've had me jumping up and trying to get away from it.</p><p>I say "would've", because moving right then and there wasn't the smartest of options. Y'know about the phrase "I'll feel that in the morning"?</p><p>Yeah, well running and walking up a fuckton on stairs until you're numb and while <em>nine</em> (again, my brain oh so helpfully provided information I shouldn't have been able to know right then and there) was the quickest way to go through a level of discomfort so intense that even <em>twitching</em> left me annoyingly sore.</p><p>"Oooowww…"</p><p>I just need time...some time until I can feel something other than pain, that's it. Hopefully, it shouldn't take too long, maybe this body was from here? With all that patented Shonen Anime Bullshit<sup>TM</sup> built in? I'd had some time stuck this way to think some more, and it led to another wave of realizations that didn't click earlier.</p><p>The entire time I'd been running around, looking around, well...<em>everything</em> around, I hadn't really felt my glasses on me. But that didn't really seem to matter, since I'd been seeing just fine without them. So yeah, <em>that</em> was a little new? Maybe it was because when I was younger I didn't need 'em, who knew? That was all the thought I was gonna give it for the day. The same went for my clothes. I knew I was wearing a shirt and pants, and because I <em>didn't</em> have on shoes, it made me think I was just in my pajamas. I didn't really care about my clothes otherwise.</p><p>Unless it turned out I was wearing weighted clothing the whole time.</p><p>In which case I think I care <b>immensely</b>.</p><p>The other thing I'd figured out was that I wasn't hungry. If I hadn't been running a stair-themed marathon I really wouldn't have found it worth noting, but the fact that I hadn't even felt a <em>pinch</em> of hunger was weird to me...</p><p>Regardless, I actually couldn't do too much until it didn't hurt to move, so I was stuck here.</p><p>What to do?...</p><p>
  <a href="https://youtu.be/69PQuw0r3oM">"Why are there so many..."</a>
</p>
<hr/><p>I don't know when I reached the door.</p><p>I just know that at some point, my body sorta got used to the pain after what I think was an hour, and I managed to pull myself up. A gradual climb up the next few platforms turned into a feverish rush.</p><p>I remembered shouting about something, crying about another thing, feeling like every bone in my body was loudly singing off-key, but it all dulled away the longer I pushed myself up the steps.</p><p>At some point, I think I even let go of the rail.</p><p>By the time I reached the door, I was crawling towards it, everything aching and sweating in places it probably shouldn't if you wanted to keep your lifespan nice and long. Despite all of that, despite the fact that I couldn’t even <em>walk</em>...</p><p>I still felt like I had more in the tank.</p><p>The thought was absurd to me. Honestly, that should've been my first clue as to what was going on, but so much was going on that this moment was shoved down and not thought about until much later.</p><p>At that moment, I knew <em>exactly</em> how far I could push my body, down to the last drop of strength I could squeeze out. The feeling was familiar but it was like a cousin you barely hear about or see: You <em>should</em> know about it, but it’s not coming to mind right now and it could be a long while before anything comes to you.</p><p>But while that niggling feeling kept pulsing in my skull, something else tugged at me when I'd reached that final platform.</p><p>Gravity, along with fan favorites pain and apparently soul-deep fatigue.</p><p>When I felt the cold stone floor on my skin after crumpling to the floor, and the overwhelming urge to just stop so I could just <b><em>sleep</em></b>, I fought like hell to stay awake. I could hear the creak of the door, see...a rug?</p><p>I could've <em>sworn</em> I'd seen this somewhere before, but it was really hard to think when I didn't even want to be <em>awake</em> right now...</p><p>"Oh, good," A voice said, just to the left of the rug from the sound of it, not that I could turn to see, "You've finally made your way up here."</p><p>The words jumbled about in my head, and I was starting to flicker in and out of consciousness. Honestly, I don't know why I was fighting so hard to stay up. I <em>did it</em>, I climbed to the top, there were no more stairs!</p><p>"Yahoooo..."</p><p>
I felt weightless for a second, then a fabric-like sensation under me. Maybe it was the rug? That'd be kinda neat, I'd get to be Aladdin. I felt like I was moving. Whatever it was, the contrast from cold hard stone to somewhat warm not-stone was the kicker. It was slow, but the Sandman finally put me down for the count.
</p><p>
The last thing I saw were the stars, right before it all went dark.</p>
<hr/><p>
A furry, monkey-like tail in my face wasn't really what I imagined waking up to. Especially not after it smacked my in the mouth somewhat hard.
</p><p>
Sputtering and swatting the offending appendage away from my face as I sat up, I tried to get a grip on my situation. I wiped my face off to get brown fur off my face as well, in case anything just decided to cling. With my apparent track record, I wouldn't really discount it.
</p><p>
Wait. Roll the clock back a second.
</p><p>
 Monkey tail. On The Lookout.
</p><p>
 There's literally only one person this could be.
</p><p>
Sure enough, turning to get a better look at the snoring (how I hadn't heard any of that until now was just baffling) child to my right, Things clicked into place. If the tail didn't give it away, or the fact he was wearing an orange gi, then the black hair, naturally sprouting up in a way that just <em>wasn't possible</em> back home, was the final nail in the coffin.
</p><p>
"...Oh boy."
</p>
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